While continuing to grow in popularity, portable or mobile electronic devices, such as cellular phones or mobile phones have also been growing in complexity. In addition to supporting wireless voice communication, mobile devices or phones, such as the iPhone™ multifunction device by Apple, Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif., include additional functionality such as built-in digital photo and video camera, digital music and movie file playback, self-location capability, and global positioning system (GPS).
Moreover, most mobile phones are configurable to allow a user to customize features such as the display background image, ring-tones, notification sounds, volume levels, and display brightness levels. They can also typically be customized to select which additional functionalities to include, and to customize the features of those functionalities. Moreover, mobile phones may be configurable to allow a user to program the phone with telephone contacts, and text (or short message service (SMS)) message contacts. Mobile phones may also be configurable to allow a user to send, receive, take and/or store various media in the phone, including text (or SMS) messages, photos, audio files (e.g., songs and voice recordings) and videos. Thus, a user may desire and find more useful, a mobile phone configured to have the features, customization, functionality, contacts, and media the user most frequently uses.
When a mobile phone user travels or relocates, the user may want to change phone services (e.g., phone service providers), such as to reduce calling costs, messaging costs, and/or other phone function costs, while maintaining the same mobile phone. For instance, when a user of a mobile phone travels, such as to a region or country where the user desires to use a different phone service, that user may replace the current subscriber identity module (SIM) card of the user's mobile phone with a new or different SIM card that provides service with the desired service provider. Replacing the SIM card allows the user to retain the functionality, and customization of the user's current mobile phone, while using a different telephone service provider. Thus, by using or maintaining his phone when traveling or relocating to different regions or countries, a phone user may make more efficient use the functionality of his phone, as compared to another phone, due to the users familiarity with that device, while reducing costs for calling, messaging, and using the phone functionalities.